There are many different designs of transport sections known, in particular for supplying closures from a supply unit, which, among other things, has a hopper for accommodating a plurality of closures as a random quantity, to a closure transfer of a closing machine. In this case, the provision of a plurality of treatment stations at the transport section is also known in particular (DE 101 45 102 A1), the closures being sterilized in said treatment stations before they reach the closure transfer of the closing machine. In the case of said known device, the closures or caps introduced into a conveying channel are pushed by a conveying element, formed by a cap wheel, through the conveying channel closely adjoining one another in a one-lane cap or closure flow and are moved past the treatment stations that are in the form of nozzle assemblies. Disadvantages here, among others, are the relatively low output (number of treated or sterilized closures per unit time) and the risk of the closures jamming in the conveying channel.
Also known is a device for sterilizing closures (DE 103 59 392 B3), where the closures are moved by means of a plurality of levels, formed in each case by a rotatingly driven disc, and by means of inclined planes that interconnect the levels from the top to the bottom, through a treatment chamber that is impinged upon with a disinfecting or sterilizing medium. Said known device is structurally expensive, requires a relatively large structural shape and, over and above this, is greatly limited as regards possible sterilizing methods.